Rabbi praises response after swastika found on synagogue

Monday

Nov 24, 2008 at 12:01 AMNov 24, 2008 at 9:39 PM

Hundreds of people joined Temple Shalom Rabbi Eric Gurvis and Mayor David Cohen to brave the cold Sunday afternoon in an interfaith community gathering in response to the swastika found spray-painted on the synagogue’s entryway sign a week ago.

Steve Bagley

Hundreds of people joined Temple Shalom Rabbi Eric Gurvis and Mayor David Cohen to brave the cold Sunday afternoon in an interfaith community gathering in response to the swastika found spray-painted on the synagogue’s entryway sign a week ago.

Gurvis was driving down Temple Street with his son, who noticed the graffiti on the sign. Gurvis called the police, the mayor and other synagogues in Newton to determine if the act against his synagogue was unique or if other temples had been defaced as well.

“Well, we’ve wiped away the hurtful symbol, but it’s not far from the hearts and minds of many of the members of our Temple Shalom community, and it has also seared itself into the hearts, the minds and the souls of many beyond our Temple Shalom community,” Gurvis said.

Gurvis was one of several people to speak in front of a crowd that included Temple Shalom congregants, members of Christian churches, several Newton city officials and members of the public.

“It is our presence here today as a community that allows us to say ‘no’ to hate,” Gurvis said.

Rabbi Michelle Pearlman led the audience in an interfaith prayer to God. She said, “We pray that we may live not by our fears, but by our hopes.”

Cohen called the swastika “the epitome and embodiment of evil,” and told the audience “the only thing we will not tolerate is intolerance.”

Gurvis used the swastika to tell the assembled citizens that there was in his eyes too much anger between people who disagree. “Will you join me in saying enough?” Gurvis asked the crowd.

“Enough!” the crowd responded.

Gurvis told the story of Isaac and the sibling rivalry between his sons, noting how in his translation from the Hebrew the word “blessing” occurs 34 times. According to Gurvis, Isaac was the first man to bless his children, and as he blessed his children, so must Newton turn their anger over the hate crime into a blessing.

There is a lesson to learn in the story of Isaac, Gurvis said. “I think that that word ‘blessing’ in all of its various forms calls us on this day, at this time in this week in this community to turn our outrage into blessing.”

Remaining “simply angry” at the symbol would have allowed the person or people who painted the swastika to win, Gurvis said. “I think we need to win,” he said. “And we win when we turn that hateful act into a commitment to build lives and a community of blessing.”

The lesson Gurvis wanted Newton to take away from the incident is that even when people disagree they should do it with civility, “and recognize regardless of our faith that each precious human being is a reflection as Genesis Chapter 1 teaches us of the image of God,” Gurvis said.

That in mind, in the wake of the swastika, Gurvis said, the people of Newton needed to find a way to come together and bless each other “each and every day.”

“Not just in response to acts of hate,” Gurvis said.

Rev. Richard Malmberg, pastor of the Second Church in Newton, said the swastika was not what Newton was really about. Instead, he said, Newton is a city of tolerance. “This is the real Newton, the city I love and am proud to call home,” Malmberg said.

“This is a beautiful day for Newton,” said Derrek Shulman, regional director of the ADL. “It shows again that Newton is not a place for hate.”